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Toddler hospitalized with life-threatening injuries

Turlock man arrested on abuse charges

Brandon Rodriguez

A young Turlock child is fighting for his life in a Madera hospital, while the man suspected of putting him there has been charged with multiple counts of child abuse.

The 2-year-old boy sustained life-threatening injuries, including a severe head trauma from the incident.

Turlock Police detectives have arrested Brandon Rodriguez, 33, on a felony charge of endangering a child causing pain and a felony charge of inflicting great bodily injury on a child under the age of five years. Rodriguez was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail and has since bailed out.

The child’s injuries were sustained sometime between 11 p.m. Saturday and early Sunday morning at a home in the 3100 block of Linfield Court. The child and his mother live in the same residence as Rodriguez, who is a relation.

The mother left the child in the care of Rodriguez overnight. When she returned she was told the boy had been acting strangely during an outing and had been unusually sleepy, said Turlock Police spokesperson Officer Mayra Lewis.

The mother took the child to Emanuel Medical Center and it was hospital personnel who contacted the police department and Child Protective Services, based on the boy’s injuries.

The child was subsequently transferred to Children’s Hospital in Madera due to the severity of his injuries.

Rodriguez was interviewed by investigators prior to his arrest. No details on how the child sustained his injuries have been released, but Lewis did say the injuries “were a direct result of Rodriguez’s actions.”